Chapter 233: Improvisation

As one of the oldest monsters in existence, having surpassed the late Ancient Rykir, the ColdFire Drake had experienced a vast number of events and phenomenons in its life and had acquired knowledge beyond mortal limits or comprehension.

He had survived for centuries through the rise and fall of cities and wars and had reined over the Farbelt pass with his unrivaled might. However, even with the centuries of knowledge and experiences he possesses, he could not fathom the power that was contained within the ravaging streaks of black lightning that danced chaotically around the demon before him. 

•Dark Lightning•

The easiest way to describe what was happening was that time had stopped and his eyes could no longer perceive the light around him. However, that was not the case.

A ferocious crackling of thunder reverberated as far as he could hear and the light around him was being devoured by the blackish white lightning that moved around the demon as though it was sentient. 

The mere presence of the Lightning destabilized the space around them and it began to collapse. A huge tremor shook the entire pass as the Lightning emitted a destructive and chaotic pressure.

Before the Drake could even comprehend what was happening. A massive bolt of serpentine Lightning jumped off the demon's outstretched arm at him in the blink of an eye. 

However, it could not afford to die here.

While he had used all its mana on that last blast, that didn't mean he was completely defenseless. He was, after all, a ColdFire Drake and the last of its kind. He was the king of the past and one of the most ancient magic beasts on the entire continent. He could not die here. 

Disregarding caution, its scaly body began to glow as he rapidly burned through his remaining life force in exchange for power beyond its limits. This was his absolute last resort and it was now all or nothing. 

•Absolute Zero Domain•

In an instant, its massive frame was engulfed in white flames that immediately gusted out in a massive burst of a sphere of ColdFire flames that would encompass a radius of more than 1,000 meters.

The cold fire instantly reduces the thermodynamic temperature of anything it touches to absolute zero (-459.67°F or -273.15°C), a physically impossible-to-reach state by normal means or even by freezing.

While lowering the temperature by slowing molecular and atomic motion is the basics of freezing, to completely stop it is to completely bypass the Laws of Thermodynamics and that was the essence of Absolute Zero Domain. 

The ColdFire flames the domain produces would stop anything it touches in its track to a subatomic level. Atomic integrity crumbles and all living matter turns to ash. 

However, the Dark Lightning possess no living mater and was fueled by pure energy without drawing on mana from the atmosphere. It mostly ignored the absolute zero domain that gusted at them.

However, upon contact with the domain, the single bolt of lightning was split into several that ran rampant in the very limited space inside the cave as most of them shot upwards, shattering the hill they were in.

Another massive bolt of lightning also tore a hole through the heart of the ColdFire drake and continued on its wake as they continued to destroy everything it touched with unwavering destructive force.

The Dark Lightning shattered the entire hill the cave was located under while also going out of control as it continued to destroy the mountains and hills around. 

A barrier had manifested in front of Tyler and Erin, protecting them from the ColdFire flames of absolute zero but Tyler did not stop there as the miniature mountain was coming down on them. He raised an arm and caught the falling rocks and boulders from the collapsed hill as they were suspended in the air.

"What an annoyance."

He also created a barrier around the dead drake as he had used for its corpse. Seeing as he had lost control of the dark lightning that was now causing a commotion in the Pass. He took to the skies as he saw the bolts of lightning shattering one hill after another. 

Feeling irritated from losing Mike and now this, he teleported next to the rampaging lightning and opened several tears in space, sending them all to a different dimension ad he didn't have the patience to devour them one at a time with Depths of the Abyss.

The only reason he cared about stopping the lightning was that he didn't want the attack to end up killing the knights and miners, affecting his plans.

However, it seems it was too late for that as the Knights had panicked after hearing the sounds of massive hills and miniature mountains being shattered and reduced to dust. For some reason, those sounds had made them gather together in front of the cave entrance and assure a defensive formation.

Sigh... "Why go outside at the first signs of danger."

Tyler's irritation was growing rapidly as he noticed one of the Knights had spotted him with a magic item. He had anti-divination skills now so what he was using was most likely just a simple telescope and not an item for remote viewing else it would've been blocked by him. 

"I've been making way too many mistakes lately, haven't I. How do I fix this now? Should I alter their memories?"

{Answer: The possibility of altered memories being noticed is high and thus, action is not recommended.}

"Fine, I'll have to think up a new plan for this then."

{Negative. As long as master doesn't destroy the underground mine. The plan would still have a high probability of success. Master can also increase the probability of success with the skill, Fate manipulation's probability correction.}

"Oh, forgot I had that. How convenient."

Although he had just found a solution to his current predicament. Killing the innocent miners that hadn't seen him didn't sit well with him. They had only just arrived here to do a job and had stayed inside the cave when the foolish knights ran out to look for the cause of the ruckus. 

He wouldn't feel right to just kill them off without a reason but he also couldn't just leave them alive without the protection of the scouts as that would be worse than just killing them off. 

He soon thought of an idea and teleported before the Knights who almost shit themselves the moment he suddenly appeared before them, perhaps in surprise or fright, could tell. The Knights were well trained so they quickly recovered from their stupor. However, it was still too late as they tried to move but couldn't.

Their bodies failed to respond to their brains' commands as Tyler walked right past them without even sparing them a second glance, a bear later, they all dropped to the ground like puppets whose strings had been cut. 

He had already killed them off with needle-like magic bullets that pierced through their skulls without resistance the moment he appeared before them but their brains could not process their deaths until they tried to move. 

Walking into the cave, he saw the group of miners huddled up together per the Knights instructions. The moment their gaze met his, his eyes flashed red in a dominating pressure that made the weak-minded miners whose mental resistance was almost non-existent immediately submissive to him.

He did not attempt to control their minds but made them unable to refuse his orders. He then contacted Gerl and sent them to live in the temporary settlement for now until the log house in the Darkin Mountain Range was ready.

He Would then send them there to help mine the resources of the mountains. If they had families, he could help them move them there as well but that was as far as he was willing to go for the sake of his human conscience.

With that done, Tyler decided to burn the bodies of the knights a little to pass them off as though they were killed by the Drake. He immediately teleported back to where Erin was patiently waiting for him. 

With Mike dead and the magic carriage destroyed. The only thing of interest here was the body of the dead ColdFire Drake. 

Drakes were known to horde treasures and rare metals so Tyler had Zelda, Nessi, and Maeve scower what was left of the Farbelt pass for the monster's original lair but unfortunately they found nothing.

Either the lore he learned on earth was wrong or his Dark Lightning had destroyed the lair and everything within it. 

He then thought of harvesting the corpse of the drake as he had heard they were very rare creatures and their scales and bones made excellent weapons and equipment. 

Their flesh was also considered a delicacy so perhaps that would've been the more logical choice. However, he had decided to turn the drake into an undead instead. The first thing he did was retrieve the core as a new core would form from negative energy so there was no point in letting the original one gets corrupted. 

"Create Undead."

Hearing the spell Tyler just cast, Erin retreated further back feeling disturbed by the process which was still funny to Tyler but he wouldn't show it.

He had used a lot of mana to boost this spell past the Tier 5 standard and the negative corruption in his left hand had spread further towards his heart.

Even using healing magic several times had proved useless this time around. It seems the corruption had taken a deep root within his soul and he could no longer use negative type spells. This also meant he would no longer be able to create any more undead else his heart would stop and he would turn into an undead.

He also wasn't sure he would retain his memories after turning which was the biggest problem. He also needed to be careful when facing off with the undead king as he had suddenly become Tyler's natural enemy and would be able to kill him with a well-placed spell. Or even worse, turn him into one of his minions.

Although there was a high possibility for him to die when fighting the undead king, Tyler didn't dwell on the issue for too long as he put the thought at the back of his mind and focused on the massive creature that had just emerged from the cloud of black smoke like an aura. 

The massive dragon-like creature stood up and looked over Tyler with glowing eyes. The previous bluish-grey ColdFire Drake was now a completely black sinister-looking undead monster. 

This was a Dark Shadow Drake with the ability to manipulate dark flames instead of ColdFire. However, with an undying body that didn't feel pain and a more destructive flame than in its life. The monster was even more powerful as an undead drake even though its tier had remained at the peak of the 6th Tier.